Aluminum nitride single crystal fabricated by a novel growth technique "pyrolytic transportation method", which is advantageous for industrial process because of using alpha-Al2O3 as a source material instead of aluminum nitride, was characterized. This growth technique shows high growth rate up to 1.6 mm/h. High crystalline quality was indicated by X-ray topogragh and X-ray rocking curve. Full width at half maximum of (0 0 0 2) and (1 0 - 1 0) were excellent values of 90 and 148 arcsec, respectively. Homoepitaxial overgrowth by hydride vapor phase epitaxy was successfully conducted. No dislocation was observed at the interface between the substrate and overgrowth layer by transmission electron microscopy. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.